VC #10: Community Over Everything

We turn to a few friends from the community to find out what they love about the Writer's Room project. What are you most excited about? What do you think is coming in the future?

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Jun 18, 2022

This is Valet Confidential (VC), the best way to keep up to date on Jenkins the Valet, Azurbala, the Jenkins Audio Experience, Book 1 with Neil Strauss, mutant hijinks, and everything else in the Writer’s Room ecosystem.

You can always find us on Twitter (FilmBook, SpaceWalk). Send us your ideas, questions, and wild speculation about the future of the Writer’s Room universe. We’d love to hear from you.

Community.

It’s a word that’s thrown around constantly, and clumsily, throughout the whole of the Web3 space. Very often all “community” means is holders of that specific NFT, and not much else.

But true community is something different. Yes it’s holders. But it’s also the people who enjoy the project that may not be holders. It’s the people that interact with the project on Twitter, Discord and everywhere else. It’s the founders and project team members. It’s the collaborators. It’s the fudders (looking at you Mutant). It’s conversing with an open mind and a willingess to change approach. It’s a group of people that are participating, building, collaborating, challenging, iterating, and maybe even profiting together. It’s an entity with shared goals and values, following the same north star. Tally Labs themselves have stated their commitment to, and importance of, community with their very first company value:

It’s been an incredible experience creating and writing Valet Confidential for SpaceWalk and I, providing our perspective, analysis, and wild takes. But how about some thoughts from the community? How did they find the Jenkins the Valet project? What’s special about our community? What are they most excited about- burning or staking their “Bored & Dangerous” NFTs? What specific part of the Writer’s Room universe excites them the most? And what sort of projectS would they like to see next from Tally Labs and the Writer’s Room?

We went directly to some of our friends in the community to find out their answers to these questions, and were blown away by their response. I think you may see some similar thoughts as to how you feel. I know we did. It’s even more proof of the quality and caliber of this community, and more validation that all of these wild projects we’re about to tackle together will succeed. A huge thank you to MagnumOpus (@Magnum_Opus29), CheddaaBob (@CheddaaB), BuckeyeATW (@SilverBulletsM), and KingDragon (@KingDragonNFT).

How did you discover the Writer's Room and Jenkins the Valet project, and why did you decide to buy your NFT?

KingDragon-I came into NFTs through NBA TopShot during the boom in Feb 2021 after seeing someone I knew collecting moments on Instagram. As someone who played a lot of WoW and Magic the Gathering over the years, the concept of NFTs instantly made sense and seemed like a HUGE step forward. I then started listening to The First Mint(TFM) podcast at the beginning of March 2021 and joined the TFM Discord in July 2021, which has been my home base since then. LG (Founder of TFM) had VJ & SAFA on the podcast prior to launch, and they told a lot of us about it. I wasn’t able to mint, but I bought immediately after it sold out on launch day.

MagnumOpus- The short answer is browsing on Opensea for the “how” and the team for the “why”. I was building a thesis on NFTs at that time, mostly for myself because I believe in the crypto ethos but wasn’t sure how it would translate to Web2.5 or Web3 products and infrastructure. So, earlier this year I spent a lot of time combing through each trending project on OS and took some learnings from my IRL job as an institutional investor to decide whether to invest or not in a project. When I stumbled upon the Writer’s Room, I was hooked by the concept and the community conversations. I had gone through close to 30 projects’ websites and Discords (spending about a week in each) by that point, which only made the WR vibe stand out even more.

CheddaaBob- This is going back about 10 months in time, which we all know seems like 5 years. I was in the space for about a month or so, just following as many people on Twitter with Web3 knowledge as possible. I don’t know how Jenkins ended up on my timeline, but I'm forever grateful that it did. I came into the space with very little spending money, so I was very particular about what I wanted to invest in. Jenkins had two major selling points that brought me in. They were completely different from anything else at the time,and the plan of action still seemed viable if ETH were to go to 0, which might happen.

BuckeyeATW- The Jenkins The Valet WR NFT was actually my first ever NFT purchase. One of my closest friends had pitched me TopShot, PV, & BAYC in the spring of 2021, and I unfortunately didn’t listen to him at the time. Finally at the end of last summer, when I was ready to dive in, he told me a little about the Writer’s Room. He had recently minted it. I was just starting out, wanted to dip my toes in, and as much as I wanted to own a BAYC, I realized this was going to be the best way to introduce myself to the BAYC ecosystem. I immersed myself into it. Was on the first few Spaces, ValetJones & SAFA were so responsive and answered every question I had, as a noob. I loved it! The more and more time I spent in the Discord understanding what they were building, I started to see the forest thru the trees and could easily wrap my head around the project. So, I bought 1 JTV ticket a week for 3 months (and a few more after)

Is the Writer's Room community different from other NFT communities, and if so, why?

KingDragon-One of the things I like most about the WR community and Discord is that generally we are a lot more focused on the vision of the team, and less concerned about short-term fluctuations or gains. We have a very strong core community with many other community members that check-in periodically to see how things are going. I think the community we have will translate extremely well to the DAOs as they begin to rollout later this year.

MagnumOpus-Definitely! I think mainly due to three points:

Web3 is currently in the early adoption phase. With that concept still being digested by the majority of the world, the Writer’s Room is even harder to comprehend for many! In a space that’s dominated by PFPs running brand building/merchandise playbooks, the Writer’s Room is a couple steps ahead by building a semi-decentralized infrastructure play.
Challenging the status quo of closed-IP and the current creative development/production infrastructure is a niche idea. The original community isn’t very large, but those that are in it really get it. This has allowed for meaningful conversations to occur vs wen moon/wen airdrop/look at the floor price.
Community, art, and roadmap are all common answers when you make a purchase. However, those will fizzle without a strong founder or team in place. If you compare it to an early-stage startup, the team is the strongest driving factor because they are the captains driving the vision, boosting morale, and rallying the internal and external stakeholders.* I chose to slowly build my collection of WR NFT after spending time chatting with SAFA and VJ. My conviction for the WR is largely due to my respect for their thoughtfulness in executing each aspect of this project.

* (This is the op-ed MagnumOpus wrote that spells out her thoughts with even more context https://thedefiant.io/decoding-the-nft-black-box/ JTV was referenced at the end)

CheddaaBob-Rather than compare the JTV community to others, I would like to just point out why I feel it’s a top tier community. From the botched mint (sorry lol), to the floor price dropping to .009, to the new heights JTV has reached, VJ & SAFA have been there and visible on a consistent basis. A lot of founders seem to become less active as a project grows, but it’s the complete opposite here. VJ & SAFA are there to welcome every new member, talk over any sort of roadblock & even throw out some hilarious jokes from time to time. They have essentially turned the community into one cohesive unit and it’s easy to see why the Tally Labs team is being built from within. This is the way.

BuckeyeATW- I spend the majority of my time in Writers Room Discord. So maybe I view this through “Orange & Maroon Valet” colored glasses... however, I really do feel that it’s different. JTV up until this point has never been a PFP project, and the community understands that. It’s a pretty tight knit group, everyone is so supportive of each other, and has such patience. It is so rare to hear anyone talk about floor price. I don’t always find that in a lot of other communities. I want to steal a quote from something Valet Jones mentioned yesterday… He mentioned he and SAFA had a basketball coach that used to say, “when times are at their worst, we are at our best”. Honestly, I think it’s a perfect description of our community.

Are you more excited about burning or staking your “Bored & Dangerous” NFT?

KingDragon- Burning books for Azurbala PFPs because I can’t wait to build-out Clan Dragon in Azurbala and beyond. I picked up 2 Yachts recently so that my son and I can work towards creating characters and a story that we can enjoy together through future projects. With that said, I am looking forward to, and planning to be a regular contributor to, (and large stakeholder in) both MDAO & CDAO.

MagnumOpus- Honestly so pumped for both. It’d be interesting to see what kind of community each path will attract and how it can bring out the best parts of us.

Staking Book NFT - MediaDAO will allow the WR community to exercise our creativity and give other projects the resources to bring their IP to life and expand the community of “book people”
Burning Book NFT - our chance to build out and explore a digital world that Emma Needell designed. I’m excited to see where Azurbala can take us/Tally Labs, from books to audio and eventually the big screen!

Bonus point:

Staking genesis WR NFT - although not one of the book NFT paths, I think CharacterDAO is super interesting for TallyLabs as a whole. I would argue that Disney needed Mickey Mouse to grow into the international power house that it is. With Jenkins, the Mutant, and GoodBoy, I think the original characters of WR can allow this project to build roots in diff markets.

CheddaaBob- I’m sure everybody knows my answer for this one. Of course as a designer I'm pumped to burn and check out all the Azurians and explore the World of Azurbala. I mean c’mon…Azurian memes have my name written all over them.

BuckeyeATW- Hmmm. Great question. IMO NFA… We only know so much about the details of the DAO’s and Azurbala at this point. I also don’t have a true PFP yet, so anyone who has seen me in Discord sees I am rocking a Jenkins in Stone PFP. I am very excited to Burn majority of my B & D NFT’ at this point, but I will definitely be participating in both. Maybe 60/40. 70/30? This might change as more details are released. I am pretty giddy with excitement to see the world that Emma Needell has built! My 3.5-year- old daughter makes me tell her stories at bedtime every night. (I am not so creative) I have started telling her a little about Azurbala with the little I know so far, and I have created a little world for her thru this. So, I am super excited to be able to explore the world of Azurbala even more with her every night! Will def be keeping a bunch of books with how special they will be with the cover art & music. Whoa.

Which specific part of the Writer’s Room universe excites you the most (Azurbala world building, Azurian avatars, Jenkins Audio Experience, CDAO, MDAO, “Bored & Dangerous”, software design, etc..)?

KingDragon- Short-term: Jenkins Audio Experience - I’m very excited to welcome new communities to the WR.

Medium-term: Clan Dragon in Azurbala & beyond - I can’t wait to build out that story and see it come to life in future projects.

Long-term: Both DAOs - I’ve been looking for a way to get more involved for months and this will be an opportunity for me to start contributing to the growth of the WR and the ecosystem more broadly.

MagnumOpus- All of the above but I really can’t wait to read Neil Strauss’s 11th NYT best seller, “Bored & Dangerous”. I will probably hide away and try to finish it in 1 sitting. Everything else will be a continuous process and I’m just excited to enjoy the journey.

CheddaaBob- Going to have to side with Azurbala world building, another shocker right? This is something that seems to have endless creative opportunities and is right up my alley. Can’t speak on this too much as we know almost nothing about it, but it seems like it could be an immersive experience. Honorable mention to the software design because this simply can’t go unnoticed. The Web3 portal could prove to be a giant in the future with the possibility that other projects will be able to use it. I also have a soft spot for UX/UI, so shout out to the team for really crushing this.

BuckeyeATW- Can’t wait to read the highly anticipated “Bored & Dangerous” Book, and then the gamification that comes with the NFT, for me this will be my first time truly experiencing this type of gamification. And as I mentioned Azurbala will get a majority of my attention to start. Software Design is easily the most overlooked aspect of Tally Labs and JTV.

What type of project would you like to see next from Tally Labs and the Writer's Room?

KingDragon- This is a tough question, but one thing I suggested to VJ & SAFA a few months ago was a live role playing game like Dungeons & Dragons, or a modified version, that would be recorded in audio/video formats and include opportunities for chat/community to engage to some extent during the recording. I’d need to think exactly how to fit it within the structure of the WR. I think there is a lot of opportunity to capture attention and engage people with live vs full-scripted content.

MagnumOpus- International expansion!

CheddaaBob- This question will keep me up at night just thinking, so thank you for that haha. Since we have a portal and a voting system in place, it’s possible we can use them to create the next project. I’m thinking a full on community driven project voted on using the platforms that have already been built out.

BuckeyeATW- I am excited to see how/where the community takes the Audio Experience. Opening the project up to other communities to partner with, and it’s such a great proof of concept showing how JTV and IP development can work. As a father with a young child and another one on the way, I would love to see the Writer’s room develop something kid oriented. Maybe some sort of children’s books/audio stories? Help me bring this love of mine into my children’s lives.

Some Disclaimers: None of this is financial advice. DYOR. And yes, FilmBook and SpaceWalk are TWR collectors and long-term hodlrs.